The International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney), managed by ASM Global, has launched its Interactive Venue Map to assist event organisers to plan and promote their events at the venue.
The new venue map tool includes interactive 3D floorplans of every level and space across the venue, alongside 360/VR and standard images, capacity and room information. The new tool utilises the latest Microsoft web-based technology and can be used with or without Wi-Fi capability (offline) once downloaded.
A sample of how the tool will look like
Additionally, the tool incorporates visitor information and facility services supporting event organisers to plan and promote their ICC Sydney events whilst enhancing the attendee on-site experience.
ICC Sydney CEO and ASM global group director – convention centres (APAC), Geoff Donaghy, said the tool demonstrates the venue’s commitment to constantly innovate and put the experience of the client and delegate first.
“Clients and delegates now have the opportunity to explore the advantages of our world-class venue at the simple click of a button, making the collaboration process of event planning more streamlined and efficient than ever before.
“In addition to this, the new tool builds on the team’s recent efforts to refresh the website taking its functionality to a whole new level,” Donaghy said.
The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has appointed Megan Epler Wood as its special advisor on sustainable tourism development for destinations, business, and civil society.
Wood’s knowledge and expertise will be invaluable to driving progress towards a more resilient and sustainable Asia-Pacific travel ecosystem. She has dedicated over 30 years towards the creation of professional guidelines, tools, policies, and educational resources focusing on sustainable tourism development. In 1990, she founded the first sustainable tourism NGO, The International Ecotourism Society.
She is currently the managing director of the Sustainable Tourism Asset Management Program (STAMP) at Cornell University’s Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise and the SC Johnson College of Business, a role she has held since 2017.
FHA-HoReCa opened its tradeshow doors on October 25, taking up five halls at the Singapore Expo.
The four-day event is presented in five segments – hospitality technology; food service & hospitality equipment; hospitality style; bakery, pastry & gelato; and speciality coffee & tea. In total, it features more than 800 exhibitors from over 30 countries and regions, and is expected to draw some 25,000 local and international trade visitors.
This year, the show’s new Hospitality 4.0 component features Hospitality Start-Up Village, Hotel Innovation Challenge Asia and a conference programme with more than 50 international speakers that will discuss the future of hospitality.
Prominently situated next to the historic Saigon River, the Oakwood Hotel & Apartments Saigon is the first international serviced apartment brand to open in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City.
The property offers 67 keys, ranging from the 49m2 studios up to the 123m2 two-bedroom serviced apartments. All living spaces come furnished with a full kitchen and living room.
The hotel is just a 15-minute drive to many of the city’s attractions, including the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City Centre Post Office, and Saigon Opera House.
Corporate travellers will be glad to know the property is also well-connected to major office buildings like Bitexco Financial Tower, Deutsches Haus Ho Chi Minh City, and industrial parks like the Saigon High Tech Park in District 9 and VSIP I in Binh Duong Province.
Tripadvisor has appointed Mike Noonan as chief financial officer and senior vice president, effective October 31.
He succeeds the current chief financial officer, Ernst Teunissen, who is entering retirement.
Noonan has a deep knowledge of the travel industry, and brings a dynamic set of experiences across consumer brands and digital business models. His background includes over 30 years of experience in various corporate finance and capital markets roles.
He joins Tripadvisor from Noom, a consumer-focused digital health company, where he served as chief financial officer since October 2020.
Centara Hotels & Resorts has appointed Shigeki Nakagawa as the opening general manager for Centara Grand Hotel Osaka, which will open in July 2023.
He brings with him over 20 years of hospitality experience, having first started his career in 1999 as assistant F&B manager at Hilton Osaka. He then move to St Regis Osaka as director of F&B in 2010, before taking his first general manager assignment at Moxy Osaka.
Before joining Centara, he was executive assistant manager at ANA Crowne Plaza Hotel in Kobe.
Busan's continuous hosting of fruitful events serves as a constant reminder to the world of its capability as a MICE city
Busan’s continuous hosting of fruitful events serves as a constant reminder to the world of its capability as a MICE city (Photo: Busan Tourism Organization)
Second-largest city in South Korea, Busan, is a global MICE city whose reputation as an ideal venue option is growing from strength to strength.
In the first half of this year alone, the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) held over 100 more events than it did all of 2021.
MICE experts highlight the geographical advantages of Busan and its world-class MICE infrastructure as some of the city’s strengths as a top business events destination.
Busan's MICE appeal
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Event organisers in Busan are doing their best to ensure delegates have the time of their lives while in town (Photo: Busan Tourism Organization)
Paddle-boarding is popular in Busan (Photo: Busan Tourism Organization)
Busan is chosen as the venue for the 2025 WADA World Conference (Photo: Busan Tourism Organization)
Ideal city to host international events Busan’s coastal environment won it acclaim as South Korea’s only bleisure (combination of both business and leisure) city.
One of Busan’s most compelling draws is the myriad of seaside activities business travellers can engage in.
The coastal pursuits are clustered in “Haevenue”, an area in the Haeundae district in Busan that is at the centre of the city’s MICE infrastructure, including BEXCO and Busan Port International Exhibition & Convention Center (BPEX), as well as a host of accommodation choices and tourist attractions.
Due to its close proximity to the Gimhae International Airport, Busan also doubles up as a transportation hub.
Business success for events So far in the second half of 2022, BEXCO has hosted a diverse range of successful international conferences, such as the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) World Congress.
Delegates of events held at BEXCO can enjoy tasty culinary fare and exciting sightseeing opportunities while in town.
One of the world’s 10 busiest ports, the city’s continuous hosting of fruitful events serves as a constant reminder to the world of its capability as a MICE city – one that should not be overlooked when selecting a host city for any upcoming business event.
Sea sports and nautical leisure activities The beautiful beaches of Busan allow for all kinds of seaside leisure activities throughout the year.
Paddle-boarding is popular, and board rentals are readily available at both Gwangalli Beach and Dadaepo Beach.
The best time to go paddle-boarding is in the late afternoon, when the adventurous will be rewarded with stunning sunsets over the water.
Event organisers in Busan do their best to ensure delegates have the time of their lives, and strive to provide a range of tourism products for them to create unforgettable memories.
More events in the pipeline In May 2022, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) board of directors selected Busan as the venue for the 2025 WADA World Conference, in a vote of confidence for the city.
The board conducted an initial three-day inspection of Busan in September. The four-day 2025 WADA World Conference is scheduled to commence on October 10, 2025.
Busan is honoured to be hosting the first-ever WADA World Conference to be held in South Korea and sees the event as an opportunity to demonstrate its MICE appeal globally.
While the coastal city’s world-class MICE infrastructure makes it the ideal host city for international events, Busan is not resting on its laurels and is constantly seeking to improve and make every event held on its coastline better than the last.
Interested in organising your next business event in Busan?
For more details on why Busan is the Best Bleisure City, visit here.
Find out more about the MICE support available here.
The Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) is partnering with homegrown PEOs and PCOs to grow their events in a bid to accelerate the recovery of the business events industry.
MyCEB’s chief operating officer, Noor Ahmad Hamid, explained: “The homegrown events that we invest in today will be the event that will reward (the country) with international delegates in the future. By supporting these events, we will be able to revive the business events economy.”
Noor: a new initiative on Malaysia’s part
While this approach is common in other MICE-focused countries, Noor said this is the first time that Malaysia is grooming local events. MyCEB’s pre-pandemic focus was on attracting international association meetings.
MyCEB is also working to bring more B2B and special exhibitions into Malaysia.
“In the past, we were also not big on exhibitions, and tended to focus more on tradeshows and conferences. We are now in talks with several PEOs around the world, to explore how they can bring an event to Malaysia. We want to help (such events) become a signature that will stay on for five to seven years,” Noor detailed.
When asked how the CVB plans to future-proof Malaysia against potential shocks, he said: “Other than ensuring a certification programme for health and safety is in place for future delegates, we are embarking on capacity building.
“(For example), we need to identify the type of business events that we want for the country, which can benefit the community and not just the industry and suppliers.”
On the sustainability front, MyCEB is working with local agencies appointed by the government, to ensure that the business events industry is aligned with United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Currently, organisers must show their sustainability efforts.
“Moving forward, we also need to be more inclusive in the type of conferences we do, such as an autism-related conference. It’s not about the number of delegates, the impact on the economy, but more of how such business events can benefit the community at large,” Noor stated.
Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, is part of the Chubu region
The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) is actively encouraging business events and leisure visitors to go beyond the well-known destinations of Tokyo, Osaka and Hokkaido.
This comes as Japan is attempting to avoid overtourism in popular cities such as Kyoto, where congestion has weakened their appeal, said Tetsuhiro Nakano, JNTO’s senior director, Singapore. And there is no better time to do a reset than post-lockdown, having just recently opened its borders on October 11.
Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, is part of the Chubu region
Nakano pointed out there are other regions such as Sanin, Shikoku, Tohoku and Chubu that would be suitable for both business events and leisure visitors.
This would appeal to the Singapore outbound market, where enthusiasm for Japan runs high, Nakano noted. Moreover, Singapore is currently the biggest business events market from South-east Asia to Japan.
To attract more business events from Singapore, the JTNO Singapore office is planning to hold an online business events seminar in November between meeting planners and buyers from Singapore with Japanese suppliers.
In the same vein, Sapporo Convention Bureau’s director, Marico Ogi, told TTGmice that her short-term plan is to grow the business events market from South-east Asia, as well as from South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
For South-east Asia, the Sapporo Convention Bureau is promoting its capital, Sapporo, as a potential business events destination during the winter and early spring (November to April), which are the city’s off-season periods.
At press time, Ogi shared that there were already several high-end meetings from South-east Asia heading to Hokkaido this year, and she expects incentive trips – which were postponed during Covid-19 – to return next year.
Overall, Japan is targeting 60 million international tourists and 15 trillion yen (US$100 billion) in tourism revenue by 2030.
A rendering of the upcoming New Zealand International Convention Centre
In the 2021/22 financial year, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland has won 102 business events, which are expected to inject NZ$75.5 million (US$43.3 million) into the region’s economy in the coming years.
Head of Auckland Convention Bureau (ACB; a specialist unit within Tātaki Auckland Unlimited), Ken Pereira, said in a press release that the wins demonstrate Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s global profile as a business events destination, lauding the work that goes into securing world-class events for the region.
A rendering of the upcoming New Zealand International Convention Centre
“Our team has worked incredibly hard to research new opportunities, bid for international conferences, and secure business events for Auckland.
“In the past financial year, we supported 305 potential opportunities for events to be held here between now and 2028. If successfully brought to Auckland, these events are expected to generate a total economic impact value of just over NZ$140 million and more than 300,000 visitor nights.”
The number of conference visitors would also fill 8,000 of Auckland’s city centre accommodation rooms for 38 days.
On average, an international delegate spends just over NZ$2,000, a domestic delegate a little over NZ$1,000 and a local delegate NZ$600.
“The business events sector is an important stimulus for Auckland’s economy,” Pereira noted. “Delegates need to eat and sleep somewhere, plus they love to explore the region they visit so our hospitality and accommodation sectors and transport, retail and tourism operators are all benefiting.”
In the past year, ACB recorded a total of 1,794 referrals to Auckland industry partners, up 18 per cent from the previous year.
“Auckland’s appeal for event organisers relies not only on its events infrastructure, but its manaakitanga (our unique welcome for visitors) and the range of attractions and activities it has to offer.
“Beyond the economic benefits for the region, these events also provide valuable opportunities for knowledge sharing, research collaboration, networking and investment discussions which deliver a positive long-term impact for Auckland and New Zealand,” Pereira said.
Major wins in the last year for Auckland include the Federation of Asia Oceania Pest Management Associations Pest Summit Conference, which will bring approximately 2,500 delegates to the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) in 2026.
Other upcoming events include a 2022 Conference on Robot Learning, and in 2024, the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology Conference, and 8th International Teaching Games for Understanding Conference.
Pereira added: “With the NZICC coming online, a newly refurbished Aotea Centre and the Viaduct Events Centre available from 2023, the future is exciting for Auckland conferences and events.”
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